Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Election Day Special:Sports Fan Analogue

A couple years ago, I tried to construct the sports analogue to the "red/blue" divide in American politics today. My analysis was constructed more by sledgehammer than by scalpel, but I came up with a framework: Sports "Purists" vs. Sports "Progressives."

The framework turned into a larger Page 2 feature package to tie into the 2004 elections, but it began with me crystallizing what I saw as two competing ends of the sports fan's ideological spectrum.

This column was the result. Some of the categories were more tongue-in-cheek than others, but I really was/am convinced there's a philosophical spectrum, with most fans edging toward one end or the other, as a lens through which they digest sports.

Obviously, there are some topics that defy ideological labels (although I'd argue that, much like our current political situation, fans often contradict themselves with the various sports concepts they support or reject).

I'd be curious whether you think that it's possible to create broad-based labels that might reflect our national political landscape.

Do you think that TD celebrations are good or bad for the NFL?Do you think LeBron should not have been allowed to enter the NBA early?Do you think that SABRmetrics are positive for baseball or ruining it?

Those are just a sample, of course. I think a lot of it is generational more than geographic, and I'm not ready to suggest there's a correlation between "red state" America and "purist" sports fans or between "blue state" America and "progressive" sports fans. But maybe there's an analogue between citizens who vote on "values" (whatever that might be) and sports fans whose perspective is rooted in specific "values."

Anyway, that's my attempt to wrap today's focus on politics into sports. I've been playing around with this stuff for a couple of years and have yet to really nail it down, but I think it could make a good spark to an interesting discussion.

29 comments:

I have no problem with TD celebrations as long as I *like* the player celebrating. Chad Johnson? Check. Steve Smith? Check. Hines Ward? Check. Terrell Owens? Throw the flag.

Since that can't be a rule, I'd rather see guys like Ocho Cinco just flip the ball to the ref. You're on TV, millions of people are watching, you have $100k worth of diamonds in your EARS... you don't need to do anything else to draw attention to yourself.

If you're going to try to bring this debate over "values," I'd suggest focusing on what MAKES values.

No one here is going to disagree with a blanket statement like, say, "I'd like to see the players honor their sport; I'd like them to show respect for the game."

But what shows "disrespect" for the game? A TD dance? Dissing practice? Mouthing off to teammates? Choking your coach? Refusing to play for your country in the Olympics? Calling your quarterback gay? Getting drunk before games?

I love TD celebrations...the NFL is foolish to insist on cutting down on them. Hate TO all you want, you know you wanna see what he's gonna do next. I don't see the harm, but I guess asshats in suits know a lot better than some dumb schmuck of a fan.

As for political analogies, in this piece I wrote earlier today, I said that not unlike the 2004 Yankees, leave it to the Lefties to peak entirely too soon. Unbridled optimism from the Democrats suddenly became dangerously cautious optimism (with a dash of Hide the Pelosi), and the Republicans over the past two weeks have morphed from sourpuss defeatists into a smug bunch of wannabe underdogs. The Republicans are basically the 2004 Red Sox.

So it's the 2004 ALCS all over again. This time I hope my side wins...

Small-market teams are more predominant in red states, and yet stuff like the salary cap that help them seem more like blue state or even socialistic ideals.

I guess on your ESPN list, Dan, I went 75% progressive, which kinda goes with my own political thoughts....forward-thinking but still rooted at least a bit. But it felt more like a coincidence than anything actually telling.

Do marijuana fans want to legalize Ricky Williams, is the real question.

I don't understand why they outlaw TD celebrations. I was told it was showing up the other team or takes the focus away from the game. How did 5 seconds of Terrell Owens laying down in the endzone show up the other team or take away the focus of the game. It's entertainment, and I was entertained. Take away commercials, they take the focus off the game.

Wouldn't it be cool to have a term limit in sports? For example, say your team sucks- let's say, the Raiders. Well, maybe there should be a limit, say two 4-year terms, before ownership MUST take leave and a vote for new ownership takes place. Imagine how cool an "ownership elections" would be? Candidates could have platforms as too what direction they plan to take the team in, then fans vote based on said idealogy.

Of course on the flip side, if you have a dominant/successful team (a la the Patriots or Colts), it would be really dissapointing if the incumbant ownership had met its 2-term limit and had to leave. Of course, then you'd have situations like Robert Kraft giving his support to his son, Jonathan Kraft as his successor to help maintain stability.

I think I've been watching too many political races lately. I'll stop now.

I think, TD celebrations are great, as long as they are not disrespecting a player/team/fan or the game. I think Chad Johnson's dances and gimmicks are tremendously entertaining and it's too bad that the NFL has cracked down on them. I do feel that TO's running to the star on the 50 was a bit overboard, but running to the star in the endzone was palatable.

I think, LeBron or any player that can do the job should be able to play in the NBA (provided that they graduated from HS). Hence, I don't think OJ Mayo should be able to enter the league because he didn't finish HS, although he is over 18.

I think, SABRmetrics are good for the game because baseball is about about statistics, anyway, because the game is so slow and deliberate that they can play percentages on every pitcher/batter matchup or narrow it down further to every pitch.

Do you think fighting is good in sports? I think, the players should be able to police their own league (NHL). Its no different that having a pitcher that intentionally throws at a batter. If a player or team is disrespecting their team or teammate, they should be able step to them. Albeit, they will have to face repercussions, but it shows that a teammate is willing to stand up for another teammate.

If I could take this a little international, I think there is so much more to talk about.

Football and baseball represent America in so many ways. Football is so regimented, has so many rules and so many stops. The salary cap system seems so socialistic, but it's more like anti-trust laws, which we did invent, after all. Because we love competition. It's a big game played in huge stadiums, and we have a holiday when the final game is played. It's like our economic system: it is brash, bold, emphasizes professionalism and winning is prized above all else. Conformity is demanded even though brash individuals are often celebrated. There are a few teams that seem to have a monopoly on winning.

Baseball (and this I borrow from many other sources) is like our political system. No one wins much. The best batters are successful little more than a third of the time. The best teams are never undefeated. That's how hard laws are to pass, how hard it is to change things. Status quo and tradition rule, much more than around the world.

As for most of the rest of the world, it's soccer. It's a mostly unregimented seemingly chaotic game. It's the essence of unfairness: even the best teams lose 1-nil and go home from a world cup that's only played once every 4 years. That's all the love and all the heartbreak every developing country knows from their history. It's the egalitarian UN crossed with the historical superiority of the Security Council: everyone is equal, but some nations are more equal. We have a government with 3 branches designed to obstruct, designed to be slow and conservative, and the rest of the world rolls the dice with parliaments that typically give all the power to one party. That, to me, is the difference between football and soccer. A 3 touchdown football game is far more predictable than a 3 goal soccer game.

For my part, I think it's the predictability of football that makes upsets all the sweeter. For futbol fans, it's the unpredictability that creates the passion and great memories.

Sabermetrics have definitely been good for baseball because, Win Shares and all other far-out statistical measures aside, they've helped advance how the game is played. Nefi Perez aside, teams are starting to gravitate toward guys with a better OPS, because research has shown that OPS is a key stat.

Which leads me to wonder - when will this happen in football? Due to the nature of the sport, individual stats are hard to advance in football, but team strategies and statistics seem to be relatively easy, due to the obvious line between offense and defense (unlike, say, basketball or hockey). The best example I can come up with is that (as was pointed out in a TMQ a couple weeks back), I think teams will punt less often in the coming decade or so, especially in fourth-and-short situations and/or near midfield. But I'm surprised nobody has devoted the time towards an analysis of this yet (or maybe they have, and I haven't heard of it yet).

Well, we could make fun of the French all day. btw, I love Zidane, he's like the Larry Bird of soccer (and Materazzi is Bill Laimbeer). I was not so shocked when I found out he was born from immigrant parents.

TD celebrations aren't good or bad for the game of football. I fully respect a guy like Marvin Harrison who just hands the ball to the ref every time just as much as I respect a guy like Chad Johnson that wants to celebrate after he makes a big play. Most of the celebrations are fun and, after all, this is a game.

What's not good for football is the rule against celebrations. The rule is supposed to keep the celebrations from taking away from the games, but as someone stated earlier, they only take a few seconds. Then youre going to allow that few seconds affect the rest of the game because it gets flagged for a 15 yard penalty. There goes another 10 seconds, and on top of that, the receiving team gets the ball 15 yards closer to kicking team's endzone, potentially affecting the gameplan and strategy of the next drive.

If the TD celebration itself doesnt affect/take away from the game, and the penalty does, then doesn't it appear that this new rule is a step in the wrong direction?

I haven't seen any NFL endzone celebrations that I have a problem with; however, they can get out of hand. The celebrations in the CFL are ridiculous and I think it makes the league look like a cartoon. There are prepared full team dances and skits. So there is a limit to how much I can take.

Snap! Apparently the handful of us who pointed it out yesterday weren't the only ones who noticed. From today's Tuesday Morning Quarterback:

"Worst Crowd Reaction: The New England crowd lustily booed Adam Vinatieri when he returned to Foxborough as a member of the Colts. All Vinatieri did was win three Super Bowls for New England! All three were decided by a field goal, remember. And Vinatieri left after receiving only a perfunctory offer from Patriots management, which didn't want the kicker back. Booing your former homeboy when departure was not his idea was pretty classless, New England fans."

The best Britney news of the day (considering I still have no shot with her) is this:

"...a judge in Los Angles has thrown out Spears' lawsuit against Us Weekly, ruling the pop star cannot be defamed by published rumors that she and Federline had made a sex tape and were worried about its release.

Superior Court Judge Lisa Hart Cole said Spears has "put her modern sexuality squarely, and profitably, before the public eye" and it would be unlikely for the magazine article to be found defamatory.

The judge's decision to dismiss the $10 million lawsuit filed last year did not address whether the October 2005 story was true or false.

"The issue is whether it is defamatory to state that a husband and wife taped themselves engaging in consensual sex," Cole wrote in the decision issued last week. "The backdrop against which this issue must be addressed is that the plaintiff has publicly portrayed herself in a sexual way in her performances, in published photographs and in a reality show.""

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.